


A Good Experiment

by diadiadia



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: :'), F/F, time to contribute to this ship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-08
Updated: 2015-09-08
Packaged: 2018-04-19 17:27:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4754891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/diadiadia/pseuds/diadiadia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You're not a person. You're an experiment. Make sure you're a good experiment... We're wasting a lot of money to keep you alive."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Wrong Place

At first, it's hard to open the door with slippery hands. But somehow, she manages to slam one of her broad shoulders into the thick oak of the 300 wing's entrance. It doesn't really work; it never really did work before, so even she can admit that it's the stupidest idea in... No. The idea had plenty of potential; it was the pursuer that was at fault. She just wasn't trying hard enough.

"Not. Enough," she grunts, emphasizing each word with a collision with the door. Of course not. Never enough. The adolescent swallows a few choppy gasps of air.

She knows she should feel scared or sad or sick to her stomach, but all she could bring herself to feel was... Anger. Anger towards herself and her situation and her principal and-and-and...

After another attempt, a loud, sickening crunch rings out loudly and she's glad the sound didn't emanate from within her. Although it's much easier to break through with the flimsy doorframe in pieces at her feet, it's almost impossible for her not to fall on her face while wiggling in.

She doesn't have time to wonder why the 300 wing was locked, or if she should even be trespassing. After all, the corridor was exclusively for life science, and her schedule didn't feature any core classes until next semester. Furthermore, simply attending the academy which held the life science classes in the first place plays yet another major role in the list of reasons why she should not, under any circumstances, be allowed near this general area.

"This way! Hurry!" she hears the rough shouts coat the neatly painted walls of the halls and travel slowly up her spine like a lick from a dog with unreasonably thick saliva. She shudders violently; somehow, her legs move faster and faster. At long last, she finds a doorknob that is kind enough to negotiate with her sweaty palms and let her in. Things are really going her way today, because as she shuts the door, she hears louder voices originating from down the hall.

"You stupid-ass.. Ugh! Yi! The one with curls! Get Yi! I don't care about witnesses!" at least that's what she could make out of their leader's thick accent.

"The one with curls" finds a nice supply closet in which to shelter herself. Her next objective relies heavily on the skills she had acquired during the countless times she was featured in one of her mother's "silent games"

When she opens her eyes, she doesn't hear people crying out "Ruby Yi! Ruby Yi!" Instead, she hears the calming hum from the air vents. She sits still, blinking slowly to adjust to the darkness of the closet. The bruises that caress the rough skin of her body reduce her senses to that only of a dull, consistent ache.

She doesn't register that she has climbed to her feet or that she knocks over a handful of bottles in the process. Instead, she takes note of how tired she is and how desperately she wants sleep until the gash across the side of her head dries out and fades like spring leaves during the fall.

Her only weapon is a broom, but she thinks she can manage with her "renowned" strength.

She opens the door quickly and scans the room thoroughly. Thank the deities from above that the moon's light leaks through the blinds of the lab and paint the room with a pale, ghostly tint. Ruby clutches the broom tightly; it was incredibly easy for her to find comfort in material things. Maybe she should work on that...

The tint can only guide through the first part of her epic escape. By the angle of the moon, she can tell that it's a shouldn't be any later than 1 am. How incredibly irresponsible of her. She truly hopes her mother isn't worried.

The irony of it all is enough to spark a laugh. A sick, hollow, nervous laugh.

She marches blindly with fake confidence until another bright light captures her attention. She follows it, thinking hey! Maybe this is the exit.

Ruby comes to that conclusion based on the fact out of all of the doors adorning the sides of endless corridor, this one is the only one to have a light. Maybe it's the dim glow of an EMERGENCY EXIT sign, she thinks hopefully.

Of course, that's the first time she would witness one of those to be blue. She tries the doorknob, but of course, it's locked. The tips of her fingers grace the cool glass of the classroom door's sole window, and along with it, her almost fiery-hot breath. She wipes the fogged window with the palm of her gloved hand and sneaks a peek at the contents of the room.

It's an ordinary laboratory, she supposes, There are tables with marble countertops, long enough to fit two to three students and amongst the stacked texts books on each desk are a few pieces of forgotten homework and bits of broken equipment; a crusty-looking skeleton with bones missing hanging from a dull hook; a few water cycle, periodic table of elements, and other scientific studies that had been converted into small, colorful posters along the walls to make the place seem less like strict; some chunks of junk from her junior high experiences; etc. Etc.

Nothing really catches her eye like the huge tube off to the corner of the room. The glass seems to be extraordinarily thick, but Ruby wasn't a reliable source, seeing as she could barely see past her hands.

How odd, though, for something that looked so beyond modern science to even be near an 8 inch radius of the old pieces of junk that cluttered up the room.

Although it does awful things for her headache, Ruby squints her eyes even further to make out anything else beneficial to her. There's no doubt that the blue-ish glow radiates from the container, because it's impossibly easy to take note of luminescent goop that the canister is filled to the brim with. However, there's areas where the goop is darker and duller. Ruby's eyes adjust slowly. Aha! She follows the strands of blue strings like they're rivers pooling into lakes; her eyes travel further down to find the pinpoint curve of a pair of... Lips?

Ruby's heart thuds against her chest, at a more lively rate. In the goop, she began to make out the person's shoulders and the S-like curve of their spine that came with their relaxed pose. She analyzed all she could without her glasses on. People needed to see this. Was this some kind of sick experimentation with human bodies? Maybe a hybrid? Or a robot? Or...

SSSSSHHK! Her thoughts fall flat once the lights activate. Within seconds, the school sparks to life.


	2. Back Home pt. 1

"Ruby! You have fun taking your stroll, I'll just be here, _busting_ my ass..."

Ruby had been staring at the old, rusted screws along the spine of the crusty mailbox upfront. It had been such an unreasonably hot day, but around this time, thick clouds had decided to move in and bring a chill. Ruby tore her gaze away from the mailbox. She rushed over to her mother, who had been trying her hardest to walk across the short, tiled porch of their new house with wobbling legs, and took the boxes from her noodle-like arms. 

"That's more like it," said Ms. Yi, biting back her breathlessness, "Those go upstairs."

At that, Ruby made a face, but she knew better than to talk back these days. Instead of letting her words fall thickly like dribble, she tried her hand at being subtle. So ever so gracefully, as the two women made their way inside the dusty smelling house, Ruby rose her voice, casually pointing out that "our old home never had stairs."

Her mother's thick lips rose to deliver a scowl; her gaze remained on the papers she was flipping through. " _Mhmm_ ," Ms. Yi drawled out. Unlike her daughter, no matter how many hours of practice she had put in, subtlety never worked in her favor. When she was sad, her words were soggy with tears. When she was angry, acid seemed to seep through the thin gaps of her pale, yellow teeth.

Ruby climbed the stairs and set the boxes just far enough to trick her mom into thinking they had properly been unpacked. It still wasn't too far though; she refused to spend too much time upstairs. Ruby took her time on her way back but eventually picked up the pace when her mother's shrieked for some more assistance. On the last step, her hand came in contact with a rebellious nail sticking out upon the rail of her amazing, fucking _fantastic_ new staircase. Yes! How perfect! The day couldn't possible get any better.

Ruby continued to curse the heavens, though the sucking of her bloody palm muffled most of her fury. 

* * *

The taste of blood brought back a few memories. She thought back to a particularly rainy day a few years back. Ruby sat in the backseat of her mother's peeling, red car. She had flinched when the door was swung open with a great deal of force then slammed shut so powerfully that the entire car risked tipping over.

Ms. Yi tossed a stack of papers above the dashboard. With her newly freed hands, she pushed the curls that spilled out of her bun behind her ears. At least, that's all she saw out of her swollen eye. 

Ruby suffered from a bruised, bloody splotches along her jaw and cheekbones. The one that stood out the most was probably the thick, swollen skin about her left eye. It was Anti-Bullying week and Palmer Middle School and, because Isaac Spzak was being smart with her, she was later sent to the principal's office for fighting Isaac on the bricks of the courtyard floor. As for the bruises, how the _hell_ was she supposed to know that Spzak had a brother and dimwitted friends the size of full-grown bulls in 8th grade?

After a few deep breaths and strikes to the steering wheel, Ruby's mom started the car and drove out from the school's parking lot.

"Mom... I- Uh.. Hey, I'm sorry, ma.." This was all Ruby could choke out before her mom replied with a voice much more stronger and stricter than Ruby could even dream of having.

"Fighting, possession of drugs, terroristic threats, gang affiliation."

With each accusation, Ruby's head fell lower and lower. It was true that she was never one for clean slates but she had an excuse for everything the principal could throw at her.

But it wasn't a debate; convincing her mom she was innocent would be like prying a volcano out of the depths of the ocean.

"You're a real criminal, aren't you? You think you're tough shit, huh? You can't go to school here anymore!"

Ruby's heart broke. Being expelled meant a lot of things.

"You happy, Ruby? We have to move _again_!" Ms. Yi hissed, "Did you think you would be _cool_? That they'd all love you and you'd somehow make your dad proud? This is serious shit, little girl."

Ruby's cheeks burned with shame. She rose her voice to speak over her mom's speech that she was tired of hearing. "Well, you're _always_ telling me to stand up for myself!"

"I say stand up for things you believe in! You wanna believe in this? You wanna stand up to say that you were right to break a fucking cafeteria table, to hurt people?" Her mom retorted. 

"Maybe I do! You don't know me! I'm standing up for myself!"

"I know you better than you do. This isn't some revolution you're starting by kicking some kid's ass."

"No! If dad were here-"

"That's _enough_ , Ruby. _Let it go._ Now, your uncle Martin is willing to let us stay at his summer home, so when you get home, I want you to start packing. I want no lip oughta you, hothead, or I'll kick your teeth in."

Ruby's thick fingers clung to her seatbelt. Later on that ride home, her mother finally apologized for her outburst and sugar-coated the "no lip" rule so that it was soon to be called "The Quiet Game". That following summer, Ruby had learned how to be alone.

* * *

"Ruby! Come say hi to Uncle Martin and the twins!" 

Her mother's voice shook her from her thoughts. Since the blood had dried, Ruby found no reason to be complaining about it and finished her descent. She jogged out the front door to greet Uncle Martin and her cousins.

Uncle Martin was quite the sight. He had curly, grey streaked hair like her mother, but Ruby knew it was due to his age, and not smoking or stress. He dressed in some dusty, blue button-up and jeans that were coated with mud at the ends. The marks made about his sweaty head suggested he'd usually be wearing a hat. Thanks to the old photographs, Ruby noticed that nothing much had changed since her mother's teenage years.

"Crystal," he said with a voice that sounded like he really needed to clear his throat of something. He pressed a kiss to her mother's cheek between grins before saying, "Look at this one!" He lowered his voice to stage-whisper into Ruby's ear. "When I blink twice, you _run like hell_. She is not your real mom."

Crystal faked laughter. "Oh, hahaa. After 48 hours of labor with her, I totally agree, I'm not your mother." She grinned and kissed Ruby's face all over until Ruby decided it was time to push her away and wipe the dark lipstick off her skin aggressively.

" _Mooom_..." She groaned, embarrassed. 

"Alright, alright, fine, hothead. Go talk to your hip cousins," Ms. Yi said.

"No one says hip anymore," Ruby mumbled. Still, she was excited to see her cousins again.

"That attitude. Definitely one of yours," Martin joked.

 

Ruby found them leaning against Uncle Martin's truck, sharing a cigarette. The first thing she noticed was that the claim Martin made about them being triplets wasn't exactly too far fetched. They all shared large, poofy mounds of curly, dark hair and the same small eyes. Along with that came the same tone of skin and thin lips. They might as well all be called Ruby.

But they weren't. 

Rosaline and Rosetta. Partners in crime. Literally. Upon receiving the news of the move, Ruby immediately set to work on learning more about her cousins and future tour guides. She'd was sure she would have to follow the two around town like a lost puppy. Apparently, the twins had a bad record and reputation; everything Ruby had done, they had done twice as deviously. The only thing that seemed to keep them off the hook was the town's soul-crushing hope of advancing the local school football team to state. To say the fate of the team rested on their shoulders was too much of an understatement.

"Hey! It's the Rube-boob," Rosaline said.

Rosetta punched her arm. "I thought we agreed on Rube-cube!"

Her sister sneered. "I decided to go with the name that resembled your social status." At this, Rosetta rose a clenched fist, pulled her arm back, and fired away towards her twin once more. She had used the weight held kept behind her shoulder to its full force on the intention of hurting her annoying sibling.

However, her intention was never met. Rosaline pulled back at the last second, leaving Ruby out in the open to take the blow. 

After this, Ruby was back to staring at the old mailbox, but this time, just the underside of it, and with a nose filled with fresh blood to accompany her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summer classes start on the 6. I'm planning on just writing the story all the way through then rewriting it after.


End file.
